When plywood and plastic ruled — at the V&A

There’s a room in the V&A that’s filled with more than the usual abundance of nostalgia, looking at domestic design in the post-war years.

From the advent of modern plastics to the use of plywood and in places, a hankering back to craftsmanship over mass production, this is a display that’s an eclectic collection.

In the years immediately after the war, product design was seen as a major tool for social and economic reconstruction. Personal style, fashion and youth culture became the focus of much design and innovation.

If you’ve watched any 1960s/70s TV shows, then many of the objects may look familiar, being the cutting edge of modern fashion. A vision of how the world would be in the future. Those bright colours and curved corners that then ran slam into the black leather and chrome furniture of the 1980s.

There are four distinct zones in this gallery, each broadly reflecting a period and themes in design since 1945. The chronology is not strict and the periods overlap, representing the complexity of design and society in recent times.

It’s a small space, but one that’s rich in design and a nostalgia for when wallpaper patterns were bold, furniture bright and the future artificial.

The display, 20th century, design since 1945 can be found on the 3rd level in Room 76 of the V&A Museum.